When I became an active radio amateur at the age of 16, I was nearly
every day looking for some DX stations on 2m. That time I was running only
10W output on a 16-ele F9FT for horizontal polarization and a 14-ele Cushcraft
for vertical polarization, but I did not miss one contest and worked repeaters
in a distance of more than 300km. Unfortunately it was not easy to be QRV
in time for Es. Therefore I was very soon on my limit working stations
via tropo scatter (even after buying a power amplifier with 130W output).
In the amateur radio magazines and in the book with the title "UKW-Amateurfunk"
from Gerzelka published by Franzis' I could find articles about MS and
EME. Very soon I became interested in these ways of DXing. Especially EME
was very interesting for me, because it was even possible to work other
continents on VHF or UHF. But I also recognized that the cost of materials
and the knowledge for building up an EME station was enormous for a youngster
like I was.
2. Visiting the International EME Conference in Thorn
The problem about 10 years before was, that it was not easy to find
out much about EME, because all published information was very poor. The
only amazing thing was a report on the German TV about EME which lasted
about 30 minutes. That time they showed DF0EME displaying there echo's,
because their sked partner was not QRV during TV recording. But one day
came the time when I could find a very small note in the "CQ DL" (monthly
magazine of the German amateur radio club DARC) about an International
EME Conference in Thorn (this must have been around 1989 when I was about
25 years old). This was the first time I - as an outsider - heard something
about an EME Conference. It was clear for me that I would go there, even
when I would have to drive a few hundred kilometers.
After about 6 hours I arrived in Thorn and driving through the city
on the way to the conference room I could even see my first EME antenna
systems. When I arrived there, the conference had started already. Fortunately
there were some people on the parking place. I remember that I was talking
there with a very nice young "English" EMEer (very soon I found out that
he was from Wales). There was also an other OM who was like me not QRV
via the moon and very interested in EME. I remember that we entered the
conference room during a break and I was feeling like a small child between
adults. For me these people were the "high society" of all radio amateurs
all over the world. And they were talking about subjects like fixing the
elements of antennas to avoid movement, inaccuracy of expensive HP
Noise Measuring Instruments and other things I never thought about. When
I was driving home I knew that I will be an EMEer one day ...
3. My first EME QSOs on 2m
Building up my own EME station failed during the years because of the
costs. I did not earn that much money (I was a student on a collage up
to the age of 27) and when you consider that you need about 2500USD for
a good power amplifier on 2m or 70cm you know what I mean. But I was always
thinking about a way to work EME. One good chance was taking part on the
ARRL EME Contest in 1993 at the station of my friend Hubert (DG9NCX) and
trying to work one of the big guns (stations with 16 or more antennas)
or VE3ONT with his 46m dish on 2m. The only thing Hubert did not have was
a power amplifier for 2m with more than 70W output. With my 130W power
amplifier the equipment of DG9NCX was as follows:
- 4 x 17-ele M2 (5 lambda long) with Emotator
rotor ERC-5a
- Mast preamplifier with about 1.0dB NF
- Daiwa power amplifier with about 130W output
(later I borrowed a power amplifier
with a 4CX250 and about 300W output)
- FT 736 with 600Hz IF-Filter
It needed some time to get used to all the equipment and I needed to
face some problems. One problem was that I placed the Diawa power amplifier
outside near the mast, because of about 30m coaxial cable from the shack
to the antennas. Due to the coldness in the October night the internal
protecting circuit switched the power amplifier off and we noticed that
error after one night hardly trying to run our first EME QSO.
I remember that night sitting in the shack listening to loud EME signals,
but not being able to work any station. The second night we placed the
130W PA in the warm check and I was able to work KB8RQ. This was my first
EME QSO followed later on by a QSO with W5UN.
4. Building up my own EME station for 70cm
During my stay in Taiwan for 3 years starting in September 1995 I had
a lot of time to think about amateur radio, because I was not allowed to
own an amateur radio station. The problems in Taiwan are as followed:
- Foreigners will not get a guest license
but a user license. This means they might only use a
taiwanese amateur radio
station and may not own amateur radio equipment.
- The 70cm-band is limited from 430 - 432MHz.
- For getting QRV on 23cm you (or let's say
the taiwanese radio amateur) need to apply for an
extra license.
- The output power is limited. I am not sure
what the limit is. I once heard something about
25W on 70cm and 1W on 23cm.
After nearly one year of abstinence in Taiwan I went back home for
vacation and asked my father the first day whether I could build up an
array for 70cm in front of our house. He answered: "No. I was just sowing
new grass." After I explained him how I would like to do he told me: "That's
mechanical stable. You can build up this construction on top of the roof."
This was the start for 2 weeks work during the vacation. I was buying
all mechanical and electrical parts, assembling and fixing the new antennas
on the ground, disassembling the old antennas from the mast on top of the
roof etc. Two weeks later on Thursday the 4th of July 1996 the antenna
array was lifted by a crane.
The following tables show my equipment.
Common equipment for transmitting and receiving:
| Equipment | Manufacturer, model name | Specification |
| 4 antennas | FlexaYagi, FX7073 | 23 elements, 5.07m long,
15.8dBD gain |
| Coaxial cables from
antennas to power dividers |
AIRCOM PLUS | 1.7m long, about 0.2dB loss
(with N-connectors) click here to see the specification |
| Power dividers | No name | lamda/4 |
| Adapter from power
dividers to coaxial relay |
Diverse, N-male/N-male | - |
| Coaxial relay | EME Karl Mueller, HF-400 | 0.08dB insertion loss, 55dB
isolation, 1000W max. click here to see more |
| Equipment | Manufacturer, model name | Specification |
| Adapter from coaxial relay
to preamplifier |
Diverse, N-male/N-male | - |
| Preamplifier | SSB-Electronic, LNA 432 | 0.4dB NF, 17dB gain
click here to see more |
| Coaxial cable from
preamplifier to converter |
Diverse, RG58 | 9m long, about 3.0dB loss |
| Converter | SSB-Electronic, TV-28-432 | 432MHz to 28MHz, about
1.4dB NF and 20dB gain click here to see more |
| Coaxial cable from
converter to HF-transceiver |
Diverse, RG58 | 1m long, about 0.1dB loss |
| HF-transceiver with
IF-Filter |
Kenwood, TS-430S with
YK-88 CN |
270Hz filter bandwidth |
| Headphone | - | - |
| Equipment | Manufacturer, model name | Specification |
| Coaxial cable from coaxial
relay to PA |
AIRCOM PLUS | 8.5m long, about 0.8dB loss
(with N-connectors) click here to see the specification |
| PA | Surplus (TV amplifier) | TH308, 600W output |
| Coaxial cable from PA to
70cm-transceiver |
Diverse, RG58 | 3m long, about 1.0dB loss |
| 70cm-transceiver | Kenwood, TR-851E | 25W output |
| Keyer | ETM-9C | Automatic paddle keyer |
| Equipment | Manufacturer, model name | Specification |
| Elevation rotor | Kenpro, KR-500 | - |
| Supporting ball bearing | Kenpro, KS-065 | - |
| Azimuth rotor | Kenpro, KR-400 | - |
| Equipment | Manufacturer, model name | Specification |
| Computer | No name | 80386 |
| Software for moon position
and doppler shift |
VK3UM EME planer | - |
| DSP (optional) | Timewave, DSP599zx | - |
5. My first EME QSO on 70cm
On Friday the 5th of July 1998 my EME station was set up. At moon rise
in the night I was on waiting to receive the first signals on 70cm reflected
by the moon. Of course I didn't know whether everything was well and unfortunately
I didn't receive my echo's on 70cm. Therefore I was listening and listening.
After some time I heard some very weak signals but I couldn't read them.
After three hours at 2:00 a.m. I decided to transmit and receive in periods
of 2.5 minutes as recommended in EME articles. A few periods later DL9KR
answered with a loud signal. Being very nervous I was just able to finish
the QSO. This was my first EME QSO and the last one for 1996, because I
needed to go back to Taiwan.
6. The ARRL EME Contest 1997
1997 I was sent for a period of 5 weeks from Taiwan to a branch office in Stuttgart (Germany). Due to the fact that I was allowed to choose the period by myself, I was in Germany during the first and second part of the ARRL EME Contest.
Here are my results:
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Heard were:
NU7Z, K0RZ, DK3BU, F1ANH, DL6NAA, W7CI, N4GJV.